1998 ford explorer, door locks fail and can't get out, can not be open with key or remote, can't even be slim jimmied.. Dealer tell me that the enter door has to be torn apart and it will cost $500.00... This is a very dangerous safely hazard. What happens when this vehicle is in a accident or starts fir and passengers can't get out...should be recalled.
1998 Ford Explorer locks complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 65, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Lifted hood, engaged hydraulic air lift feature to hold hood up. Hood suddenly and without warning fell, striking my left upper arm, causing severe bruising and pain. No action taken yet to remedy situation other than I will not open hood unless I have a stick or some sort of device to hold hood open.
Dt*: the contact stated the driver side door was permanently stuck closed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who determined that it was an internal problem that caused the door to stay jammed. No repairs had been made.
Dt*: the contact stated the locking mechanisms on three doors and the rear hatchback failed to operate properly. The door locks felt loose, while the door is manually unlocked, prior to each failure. The rear left door will not unlock from the inside or outside of the door. The rear right door failed to unlock from the outside, and the rear hatch failed to unlock on an intermittent basis. The service dealer and manufacturer have not been contacted. Updated 01/19/07.
Dt*: the contact stated the keyless entry was intermittently inoperable, then completely failed. Afterwards, the locks on the driver side door failed, and the driver side door no longer unlocks and cannot be opened. An independent repair shop determined the entire lock assembly on the driver side door needed to be replaced. Updated 09/15/06.
Normal operation; a the drivers door latch failed in the locked position. As a result, the door could not be unlocked or opened by normal means. The door was finally opened after the door panel was removed allowing the latch to be unlocked by reaching a hand inside the door. The failure is a broken spring. The failure resulted in an internal lever interfering with the lock portion of the latch during the unlock attempts. I have not repaired the failure as of this date. I have the failed item (a spring).
Dt: the contact stated all four doors were shut and will not open. The two front doors will unlock with the key, but they could not be pulled open. The contact took the vehicle to an auto repair shop for inspection, and the service repairman determined that the linkages on the inside of the doors were worn out and would have to be replaced. The manufacturer was contacted. They offered no free remedy. No repair has been made due to the excessive cost.
Driver door won't unlock. Key won't unlock it can't pull up on pluncher. And inside door handle won't open door.door is just stuck locked. Have to crawl out window or go out passenger door.what would I do if I had to get out fast. I read on web sites, its a spring that every one is having trouble with.and its the same door. I found out about the door problems from offroadexchange.com
The driver side door of my 1998 ford explorer sport will not unlock. A spring broke, and the lock will not open without numerous attempts. This problem is well documented and the cause is well known (the spring design is poor).
I have a 1998 ford explorer 4 dr 2wd and the driver door will not open something went wrong with the lock from the inside u can open it from the outside but it wont open from the inside since that occured my anti-theft my security system and my horn also stopped working I have checked the fuses and the relays they tell me that its something in the wiring what should I do
Drivers side front door lock does not unlock with either the remote keyless entry, the interior lock/unlock button or the key. In order to unlock the door you must press either the remote or the interior unlock button 10 to 15 times. In addition to being very inconvenient, this could cause a serious problem if the driver is not able to exit the vehicle quickly in an emergency.
Doors have a safety issue in which they cannot be locked because they can only be unlocked from the inside. The keys nor the remote can unlock the doors from the outside. Dealership indicated that the doors were frozen, and it was not their problem.
The left front door would not lock or unlock. The consumer noticed on more than on occasion that the problem would occur. The consumer has contacted the dealer for appointment. Please fill in additional information.
The locking mechanism automatically locked, and unlocked by itself. The key worked intermittently. Sometimes when the consumer was inside the vehicle she could not get out or she got out, but could not get in. *ak keys do not work on drivers side door. The consumer broke the door latch trying to get out of the vehicle.
Driver door won't open on my 1998 eddie baur explorer. Door lock stuck shut... Safety issue!
Automatic door locks sometimes work and sometimes does not.
Inner door locking mechanism failed due to a small spring breaking. The result is that the door effected (drivers door in this case) will not open from the inside or outside. Thus, trapping a person in the event that an exit must be made quickly. A replacement part has been purchased and I am in the process of replacing the damaged piece. The damaged piece will be available.
Driver's side door lock and latch no longer work and prevent door from opening. This creates a very hazardous situation for driver who now cannot exit vehicle reliably in the event of an accident or fire. Driver's side door is effectively permanently locked and driver must enter/exit via passenger side door. Door lock no longer resounds to remote keyless entry, outside key, nor inside door handle. Only after repeated attempts to pull on tapered door knob while repeatedly pressing internal electric door unlock button will driver's door sometimes become unlocked and then the door can be opened. None of the other doors to the vehicle (4 door plus rear hatch) have similar problem. This problem has been reported previously to through the federal safety agency by numerous other ford explorer owners, yet apparently no recall has yet been issued for this problem. Car was taken to the vista ford dealer on november 28, 2004 for a safety check and warranty repair of bolt in driver's seat. Dealer initially estimated $230 for repair, but after inspection they demanded $500+ (including parts and labor). Repair not performed. Vehicle remains in hazardous condition.
The left driver's side door's lock broke. Once inside the vehicle passenger could not get out of the vehicle. The door had to be opened from the outside.
I can't open my driver's side door of my ford explorer from either the outside of inside. The power locks don't open and the door should still open from the inside even if it is locked and it doesn't. This is a huge safety issue. Ford said it will cost me $130.00 just to look at the door. I am going to my own mechanic to see if he can fix this problem. Until then I can't drive the car because it is unsafe.
Driver's side door will not open. The door will not reliably unlock. Power lock actuator works fine. Broken spring inside of latch mechnism.
Drivers side door does not unlock nor open from inside. Possible safty hazard if must exit vehicle in emergency.
When the vehicle was parked or running, the front driver and passenger door would not unlock. This caused the consumer to exit/enter through the rear doors. The dealerships mechanic was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
Driver's side door did not unlock. Consumer was forced to get in/out on the passenger's side of the vehicle.
The consumers were never notified of three recalls that applied to their vehicle until the defect occurred. The dealership refused to honor the recalls them because the campaigns had ended. The recall numbers are: 99 v 164 000, 98 v 060 000, and 00 v 422 000.
1998 ford explorer, we have had problems at different times getting the driver side door to open after the car had been unlocked. This happened several times. This might become a problem if consumer was trying to get out from the vehicle in case of an emergency.
Took vehicle to have recall (03s04) performed for broken drivers seat bolts. (drivers seat is broken and leans way back ) . I also asked them to fix the defective drivers door lock. The electric lock stays down I can not open the door I have to crawl out passengers side or out the drivers window. As I have been overcharged for repairs in the past I said I wanted to know how much it would cost to fix the door. They estimated that it would cost me $68.00 just to have them tell me how much it would cost to fix the defective door lock. I hit the roof, as they have cheated me in the past. (this dealership previously tried to sell me a new clutch for f150 pickup, it turned out that ford had already created a $20 kit that fixed the clutch. ) service manager said they were not going to do the recall and told me to leave. I asked to speak with the dealership owner they told me that he was not in. I called the dealership10 minutes later and the owner was there. I highly suspect I was lied to . I told mike pallata the owner I wanted the recall performed. He told me that his dealership was not going to do the recall. My explorer is on the road with defective seat and a drivers door that will not open. Ford has replaced two sets of defective tires and replaced a hood latch with all these defects why am I to think the door latch is not also a safety defect. I previously leased a 97 ford explorer the passengerrs seat broke on this one just like on the 98. They wanted me to pay to fix that seat at the end of the lease.
The hatchback would not open at all. The consumer felt it was unsafe to have no manual way to open the hatchback from the inside. *ak
The power door locks are malfunctioning on my 1998 ford explorer. The expolanation is that "water, dirt and stuff get in there". This is the seciond such incident. I'm now being billed $186 plus tax to repair something that shouldn't need rerplacing on a vehicle with 70000 miles!.
The consumer was unable to unlock the power door from the inside and had to crawl out of the window, it was determined that the solenoid failed in the driver door. *scc
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